While it may seem counterintuitive, machine learning and artificial intelligence are well on their way to becoming an indispensable tool to address the complexities of human capital management, and more specifically, job recruitment.

A recent report on Human Capital Trends by Deloitte said that 38 percent of the corporations are already using AI, and the rest 62 percent are hoping to join the bandwagon by the end of 2018.

Conditions are Ripe for the Rise of AI in Recruitment

With the prevailing rates of low unemployment and scarcity of talent in the market (for America, for example, this is because of a few factors, America’s growing economy because of tax cuts and so on and because of America’s irrational immigration system which pushes away talent after they obtain a computer engineering degree – for Australia and other countries – the competition between companies to secure talent is a never ending quest – this makes talent hard to obtain and to find), AI is set to rapidly emerge as a critical talent search tool in the toolkit of the HR manager. The field of job recruitment is already getting impacted by the power of AI.

According to market researchers, companies that are adopting AI-based tools for predictive data analytics are proving to be more successful in their goals than others. Deloitte’s research shows that these companies that have embraced AI tech tools have 18 percent greater revenues and 30 percent higher profits compared to businesses that are not using these tools.

Eliminating Human Hiring Bias

Apart from the efficiencies that AI offers in helping source the right candidates for a job, and the reduction in time and costs involved in such a search, AI also promises a more important advantage. As robotic hiring apps and programs have intelligence but no emotion, they can prevent the occurrence of bias in hiring.

Researchers say that using AI in hiring makes the function of talent acquisition more scientific and objective. Decisions are more data driven, and involve the use of sharp cognitive and analytical tools to improve the sourcing and evaluation of candidates. The risk of misjudgments that typically occur due to human bias and false logic can be almost entirely avoided with the use of AI in recruiting.

AI Advantage over LinkedIn

Technology friendly recruiters are already recognizing a vital difference between relying on the world’s largest professional network LinkedIn and various other traditional methods of recruiting and AI.

Companies increasingly want to hire ‘passive’ candidates – the ones who are highly valued by their existing employer and are not looking to make a move. This is where LinkedIn and other traditional tools fall short.

AI recruitment is set to change this scene. AI bots are designed to crawl the World Wide Web and analyze thousands of websites, online profiles, tech chat room conversations, professional meet-up groups, traditional social networks, and other Internet data.

This massive search and analysis not only allows the AI bots to identify a good match, but also enables it to predict the chances of a potential target candidate being open to the idea of a job change.

Providing a close match between the job description and a potential candidate as well as predicting the chances that the candidate would switch are two key ingredients in the recipe of successful hiring. AI promises to deliver on both in a far more comprehensive way than what can be expected from traditional hiring methods.

Operational Efficiencies in Recruiting

Recruiting is a sensitive exercise that typically involves important stakeholders across the company. A number of AI startups are now coming up with solutions that can significantly bring down the operational burden through automation of low level tasks and provide usable data and information for the decision makers.

For instance, some of the innovative AI solutions are helping address the administrative challenges of scheduling job interviews. A custom AI program can save the recruiter a significant amount of sourcing time by automating the task of identifying and ranking interview candidates. These programs can also help in assessing technical candidates by using auto-generating coding tests.

Reducing Hiring Time and Costs

Hiring processes tend to drag on, while the unfilled positions continue to cost money to the organization. Companies spend millions of dollars in job advertising, and additionally end up spending thousands of dollars per candidate in recruiting tasks such as scheduling, interviewing, and assessments.

Communication gaps between the department head seeking to fill a position and the HR team further compounds the issues and causes delays.

Companies offering AI programs can sit with HR teams and run multiple scenarios in real time. They collect feedback and inputs from employers and incorporate the data into their AI algorithm to refine and customize the search. The time involved in the process of recruiting with AI can come down from months to days, and the costs can be cut down dramatically as positions are filled faster with sensible candidates.

At Big Wave Digital , Sydney’s leading technical recruitment agency, we have deep digital connections, experience and proven expertise, and the ability to achieve a win for all parties in the technical recruiting process. We can connect to highly coveted tech talent with the world’s best employers. To discover more, just give us a call at (02) 9380 4431.

Keiran Hathorn is the CEO & Founder of Big Wave Digital. A Sydney based niche Digital, Data & Technology recruitment company. Keiran leads a high performance, experienced recruitment team, assisting companies of all sizes secure the best talent.